Security forces created a social media account in the name of the deceased grandmother of a volunteer fighting for Ukraine
The profile picture is a gravestone photo of the woman.
Artsiom Markin. All subsequent photos are from his Threads account
Artsiom Markin is a Belarusian anarchist who is currently fighting for Ukraine. He recently created an account on Threads, where he talks about himself and answers questions.
Artsiom's first post went viral: within a day, it garnered over 76 thousand views and about 10 thousand likes. Mainly, Ukrainians are thanking the Belarusian for what he is doing.
On social media, the fighter said that Belarusian security forces, in order to morally pressure him, created an account for his deceased grandmother.
It should be noted here that Artsiom's mother died when the boy was only 9 years old — he was raised by his grandmother. It was not easy for the woman, as she also supported her Russian husband, who knew nothing but drinking. Even in childhood, his grandmother told her grandson: "Muscovites only know how to drink and wage war."
When the war in Ukraine began, the woman, who was already 87 years old, said: "Muscovites got into the wrong place, they will never defeat Ukraine."
Artsiom himself was forced to leave his homeland after the 2020 elections. The young man could not return to Belarus even for his beloved grandmother's funeral.
And now Belarusian security forces have created an Instagram account with the name Emma Andreyeuna and a photo of the deceased woman — which is a gravestone photo. The fighter learned about this when the account tried to subscribe to his page.
Artsiom explains that the account was created to discuss the fate of an apartment in Minsk, which he was supposed to inherit.
Artsiom Markin is a Belarusian anarchist. In 2017, he was detained in Minsk for participating in the "March of Non-Parasites". In 2018, Artsiom was detained by the FSB in Russia at the scientific conference "Pramukhinskie Readings", and was then recognized as a threat to Russia's national security.
In 2021, he left Belarus due to political persecution. He was first in Georgia, then flew to Ukraine, where he planned to legalize his stay. But at Zhuliany airport, problems arose: border guards gave him a paper prohibiting entry into the country. Human rights activists handled Artsiom's case.
Now he is fighting for Ukraine — he has been operating unmanned aerial vehicles for two years now.
In the comments, Artsiom explains why he went to fight: "If very briefly and honestly: a sharp sense of injustice and a desire to find new meanings, to somehow get out of the depression that engulfed me after fleeing my homeland. 'A slave to my freedom' — this phrase is not chosen lightly."